1.
What do most laptops use as a pointing device?
2.
Most laptops today come with a built-in floppy disk drive?
3.
A place on the laptop where different devices may be swapped in and out is called a(n):
4.
Which port connects you to a bigger monitor?
5.
If you’re editing digital videos which kind of port is good to have for downloading the video?
6.
If you don’t have all the built-in connectors you would like you can add:
7.
Which kind of computer features a “touch-screen” monitor and a pen for directly writing text?
8.
Which kind of computer is usually smaller and lighter?
9.
Which type of tablet is comprised of the monitor/touch-screen only with a “dock” for connecting to a keyboard or a mouse?
10.
What program allows you to enter text as handwriting and have the choice to convert it to text or simply store it and search through your notes for terms?
11.
Projects:
Task: Check the ratings to see what the current recommendations are in portable computers.
Assignment: Visit a site or find an article that rates portable computers, notebooks, laptops, or tablets. Answer the following questions on a computer that received good ratings:
What make and model?
What is the processor and speed?
How big is it?
How much storage and what kinds of storage?
What's good about it?
What does it cost?
Resources:
www.pcworld.com , http://reviews.cnet.com/ , www.eweek.com
To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.
12.
Where Can the Portability Take You?
Task: Search the current news for references to laptop computers. What are people doing with laptops? How do they make the news?
Assignment: Find an article from within the last twelve months that mentions a unique use or problem with tablets or laptop computers. Describe you findings in a well-formed paragraph and cite your sources
Resources:
Check your local newspaper, or you can find many computer-related magazines in the local library as well as the online sources for the most recent news in technology at http://www.wired.com/ , http://www.pcworld.com/ , the technology section at CNN http://www.cnn.com/TECH/ or Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ , Science Daily Magazine: Your Source For The Latest Research News www.sciencedaily.com or even the PC enthusiast's resource: http://www.arstechnica.com/
To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.
13.
Project into the Future
Task: Right now, technology allows us to send input to a computer, either by touching a screen or using a pen on a tablet. How might this concept expand in computers of the future?
Assignment: Read the article at How Stuff Works about "How Computerized Clothing Will Work" and answer the following questions:
What could be integrated into clothing to display text and images?
Researchers at MIT's Media Lab are using what unique fabric that has been used to make clothes in India for at least a century?
Once the fabric is cut into a desirable shape, what other components are sewn directly to the fabric?
Where have researchers developed another kind of thread to make smart clothes made of plastic optical fibers and other specialty fibers woven into the fabric that allow the shirt to wirelessly communicate with other devices, transferring data from the sensors embedded in the shirt?
Levi's musical jacket is controlled with an all-fabric capacitive keyboard that has been mass-produced using what?
What can the smart shirt do?
Resources:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-clothing.htm
To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.
Answer choices in this exercise are randomized and will appear in a different order each time the page is loaded.
